Tuesday, 27 December 2011

As in - 'I began writing this on Boxing Day, but the amount of pics I uploaded slowed it down till one in the morning the following day'. Merry Christmas/Happy New Year anyway. Or the equivalent celebratory phrase in your culture/religion/local 24-hour Spar.

This is simply a good a time as any to upload some pictures of my Dystopian Wars fleet/models which I finished painting a little while ago. Far from my ideal list, which would include more Scout Gyros, more Frigates and possibly two Dreadnaughts (Dreadnoughts?), but it'll make do. Not the Cruisers though, they either sink or get captured.

Incidentally, I didn't have a sea-mat/base so the ships could look all authentic and on the actual ocean or anything, so I put them on this greyish thing. You could pretend it's a really, really dirty sea on a very overcast day.

Apparently I only had this blurry-ass photo. Will be rectified as soon as possible.

And finally, the entire fleet of the Empire of the Blazing Sun.

On a really dirty sea on a very overcast day.

Right. Well, usually a phrase about being overstuffed with Turkey and Pudding enters around here this time of year, but it wouldn't be true in my case, I've gone into an annoying habit of eating only as much as I need to eat instead of eating until I'm no longer hungry, which is probably just as well, I'm always hungry.

Hope everyone had a good haul this year, I'm still waiting for my Tsukuyomi War Gyro to come from Wayland (Mother was quite upset that it didn't come in time) so I'm gonna have to take Mam's account over and hassle them for it.

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

I would have added (and still may add) more diverse foliage but I didn't have the materials.

Destroyer WIP

It's a Soviet steam-powered magically-controlled mech that can shoot and ax. Basically.

Can I just say that Privateer Press plastics (or maybe just this batch) was super low quality. I tried plastic glue, super glue, even Bostick All-Purpose and it wouldn't stay together. This specimen is held together by cocktail-stick pinning and green stuff. See how the right arm sticks out more? That's what that is. I've given the second Warjack a fairy liquid water bath to see if that's what was required, but I've never come across miniature plastic that a tube of Polycement couldn't bond before. That Warjack is a fair bit further along by this point, now that I think of it...

Saturday, 10 December 2011

No idea what to write but massive urge to write... I guess I could review Path of the Seer real quick.

So, the second book of Gav Thorpe's Eldar trilogy, the first being Path of the Warrior and the third being the unreleased Path of the Outcast. Each book concentrates on what happens to one of three friends - Korlandril in Warrior, Thirianna in Seer and it logically follows that Aradryan stars in Outcast - during the same timeframe.

If you've read Path of the Warrior (which you kinda should before this one) you'll already know, more or less, what to expect - and in fairness, it might not work if you didn't. But one weakness of this is you'll already know a large amount of the plot, since you're mostly seeing the events of Warrior through Thirianna's eyes instead of Korlandril's. The first quarter will be very familiar in terms of the characters, showing Thirianna walking the Path of the Poet as Korlandril walked the Path of the Artist and Aradryan returning from his travels on the Path of the Steersman. However, despite the Eldar-ness of it all (everyone talking in very precise terms and almost surgical precision) they actually seem like real people. They all have their desires and flaws and the character development is essentially clear from the way Thirianna, in a desire to see what happens to her friends, leaves the Path of the Poet and steps onto the Path of the Seer. It's a very organic development in my opinion, just as organic as Korlandril's anger and shame driving him to join the Striking Scorpions in Warrior. Yes they're Eldar and the not-quite-human-Space-Elves vibe is certainly there, but you can and do relate to a lot of what they're going through.
I was a little disappointed that Thirianna was described as being 'very gifted' in the way of the Seer so early on in her teachings, as that is a tad overdone in my opinion - the 'naturally gifted at whatever specific role they fulfill' protagonist - but her overconfidence leads her to make interesting mistakes along her path, and the interaction she eventually has with an estranged family member was also rather believable - on both halves of that interaction.

Plot-wise is again, very similar to Warrior, and I can see Outcast following suit quite easily. I won't spoil it too much, but it's essentially friends separate onto different paths, and the three paths showing different sections of Crafworld Alaitoc's culture and its war machine. And this is where the Eldar trilogy truly shines in my opinion - in how it immerses you in how the Craftworld Eldar see the universe and it really fleshes out a lot of the background in general. You see how the Aspect Shrines and Warriors work in the first book - as well as some parts regarding the way of the Artist and the summoning of the Avatar, as well as the inner mind of the Exarch - which I found particularly interesting. In the second book we get to see what the Farseers do day-to-day, the inner working of the Infinity Circuit, the activation of Wraithlords and Wraithguard, as well as the bonesinger's craft and some parts of how Autarchs and Farseers work together to create battle plans on strategic and tactical levels. In Outcast I'd expect some insight into the rangers, exodites and the Eldar corsairs, most likely. The plot itself is well paced between moments of training/contemplation and the main battles and mistakes/confrontations. I think it's very well written, as I said, believable characters, uncluttered narrative, good pace and well-written action sequences.

I can't really find many flaws beyond what I've already noticed. If you don't like self-contemplation, then the Eldar ways aren't for you, but if you don't mind it, this is a good, solid book. Nothing Oscar-level, as it were (been watching too many film reviewers on Youtube), but not much to dislike. Of course, if you happen to dislike the characters, personal taste will sway your opinions in that way, but I found them quite relatable and flawed in convincing ways. They are Eldar though, it is in their interest to be selfish and choose the correct path for them to take to expunge their extreme emotions and desires so that they do not attract the attention of Slaanesh - who they always refer to in Voldemort style as 'She Who Thirsts' - so they kind of have to be a little self-centered.

Overall - good book. Warrior was great, Seer is just as good, here's to hoping Outcast will either match or surpass both. 4/5.

Friday, 2 December 2011

Well, my approximation of finished at any rate. It's only recently that I've stopped the habit of going back to old models to try and improve the paintjob my then-worse-skills could accomplish, and because I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'm also a bit impatient, and I'm not sure how they co-exist within me, but there we are.

Here we go:

Now, there are a few specific things I will return one day to fix (metallics, some bits and bobs of the flame/sword designs) but I am overall satisfied with this for now, though there are no headlamps on it (we can see fine by the flames in the craters we create, duh!) as I couldn't find them - I partly assembled the model before I left university, many moons ago, and some components have found themselves into bitz boxes or somewhere less unmentionable I'm sure. There's an optional placard-type aquila about too, but I didn't see the need for it.